Naked man jumps off fourth plinth

When is public nakedness a crime?

A naked man has thrown himself off the fourth plinth in London's Trafalgar Square.

The man had earlier thrown down a pair of inflatable sex dolls before stripping and hurling himself into the safety net which surrounds the plinth.

He also took a live chicken on to the plinth which had to be rescued by security staff after the man, who called himself Gunter, ran away.

A spokesman for the project said both the chicken and the man were unhurt.

The fourth plinth is being occupied 24 hours a day by members of the public for 100 days as part of an art project called One And Other, created by artist Antony Gormley.

Free willy

On Thursday, some of the crowd were themselves naked except for paper signs taped around their waists on which they had written slogans about nudity.

One had the words "Free Willy" written across his groin area.

They also shouted through megaphones to complain about double standards because scantily clad women were used as a marketing tool but naked men were unacceptable.

There was quite a lot of hilarity but I don't think there was any particular problem One And Other spokeswoman

Gunter went on to the platform wearing a green SpiderMan-style suit with his face covered and then disappeared into a pop-up tent which he took with him.

He blew up inflatable models including the sex dolls and a crocodile.

Gunter later emerged and stripped naked before sitting with his head in his hands on the edge of the plinth. Towards the end of his hour he jumped into the safety net.

He then swung down from the plinth with a zebra print dressing gown hanging loosely off him, dropped on to the ground and ran through the square barefoot.

A spokeswoman said: "Everyone was laughing. There was quite a lot of hilarity but I don't think there was any particular problem."

Gunter is thought to be the seventh person to strip on the plinth.

On Sunday afternoon, Justin Holwell stripped and posed naked on the fourth plinth during his one-hour slot.

A member of the public has lodged a complaint which the Metropolitan Police is considering.